[WFS-India] Two Articles

[A. Mani]

Sex and the Signal Free Corridor:
http://www.epw.in/commentary/sex-and-signal-free-corridor.html

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/uttar-pradesh-festival-honors-unsung-feminists-from-regions-past/?emc=edit_tnt_20140217&tntemail0=y
_________________________

\quote

"If you place these women in the milieu to which they belonged, just
not wearing a burqa and stepping out of your house, and then bringing
your daughter to school -- that was considered a very big achievement,"
said Nimra Rizvi, 23, a master's degree student in medieval Indian
history at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, who returned to her
hometown to volunteer for the festival.

Yet conversations throughout the festival revealed that some of the
struggles the feminists of Awadh faced -- for example, leaving the home
-- are also modern-day frustrations experienced by women in India.

Outside of cities and especially in lower socioeconomic areas,
introducing the concept of even physical mobility for women is still
an upward struggle, said James Potter, 27, an American public health
worker who has been conducting interviews within women's self-help
groups throughout Uttar Pradesh.

He cited one instance at a village in Hardoi district, a few hours by
car northwest of Lucknow, in which villagers shut down a self-help
group because rumors started that a woman was using these meetings as
an excuse to go out and do something else.

"Our program is just one example of a lot of these programs that try
to introduce these concepts gradually -- like that women can just leave
the house to do something other than farming," said Mr. Potter.

However, he said, "it's not like the women can self-enforce their freedom."

\unquote

_____________________________



Best

A. Mani



A. Mani
[Last_Name. First_Name Format]
CU, ASL, AMS, ISRS, CLC, CMS
HomePage: http://www.logicamani.in
Blog: http://logicamani.blogspot.in/